


Not quite dead

by bookmountains



Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 19:59:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5469170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookmountains/pseuds/bookmountains
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone thought Victoria Vincinguerra had died when her boat exploded. But then she kidnaps Illya. His friends have to find her before it is too late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not quite dead

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wneleh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wneleh/gifts).



When he woke up, his head hurt. He stood up as quickly as possible. The floor was uneven. He found it very difficult to hold his balance, as if he were drunk. But this was unlikely, given that he hadn't been drunk since he had been a teenager. It was and he guessed that he was underground. The floor he had laid on was stony. He could not remember what he was doing in this … room? Cave?  
He walked ahead, his arms stretched out in front of him. He counted the steps: four, five, six. After six steps, his hands brushed against a wall. It was uneven. Definitively a cave, he decided. With his right hand at the wall he walked along it. After fourteen steps he felt that the wall was becoming flat. Was it a door? He reached for where the handle should be, found it, and turned it. It was locked, of course. He walked a few steps back and threw himself against the door. It didn't move. He tried it again and again. Nothing moved. After ten tries he had to admit it was impossible. He stepped back, noticing just then that his shoulder hurt, and was probably sporting a few bruises. His hands wandered along the door. It was short, reached only up to his shoulder. It was solid steel, several centimeters thick. No, it was definitively no use to try to break it open, not without tools. Anger overwhelmed him, and he hit the wall with his fist, kicked it. Then he breathed deeply. He had to focus. He walked around the cave again. Slower this time, feeling for anything that could help him flee or find out where he was. He even reached up the ceiling. It was about half a meter over his head, and didn’t show any clues either.  
He punched the wall again. And several times again. Finally, he calmed down. He had nothing to do for the moment than to figure out how he had ended up here.  
He had been kidnapped, probably drugged, so much was clear now. His hand twitched again, but he controlled himself. But who could have kidnapped him? He barely remembered the previous day. He had been at a bar, with Cowboy and Gaby. He had drunk, but only one glass. Did the cowboy do it? No, it wouldn’t make sense for him to do this now, when he had had so many better chances to catch or get rid of him. Also he had left the two of them, because they had argued, but he didn't quite remember why. Focus, Illya, focus, he told himself.  
He had shouted, then he had left, worried he would say something too secret aloud if he stayed. Then some guy walked into him, shouted at him to watch out. He had been angry, but controlled himself. He had heard a sound from behind that he didn’t investigate because he was focusing on not beating the guy up. Then he had felt a light pain in his neck, like from a needle prick. He had finally turned around, but nobody had been there. When he turned back around the shouting guy was gone. This was the last thing he remembered.  
A loud thud interrupted his thoughts. The door opened, allowing light to pour through it. He blinked and willed his eyes to hurry up and get used to the light.   
"Hello", someone said. He recognized the voice. But this wasn’t possible.

They were supposed to be at the airport at twelve, so Solo was in a hurry. Gaby was already waiting in the lobby when Solo came down. She sat alone at a table.  
“Where's your boyfriend?", he asked  
"Not here. Also not my boyfriend"  
He grinned. "You sure?"  
"Well, I don't see him here, do you?"  
He laughed. "You think he's still sulking?"  
She sighed. "I don't know. He seemed pretty pissed off, but I assumed he'd have calmed down by now."  
It was now 11:15 "If he doesn't come soon we'll miss our flight.” Gaby said. “That's not like him."  
"No, it's not." What the hell had happened? "Have you seen him again yesterday?"  
She shook her head "No"  
Solo glanced at the clock again. Well, no use sitting around any longer. "Let's go find him" He said.  
They went up to Illya’s room. His bed was unused. Solo flipped through the books on the nightstand, lifted a chess board to check under it, but already he could tell that they wouldn’t find anything here. He opened the cupboard. Empty.   
“You found anything?”, he asked.   
“No. Let’s try the club next.”  
The club where they had met up with Waverly’s informant yesterday, and where they also had last seen Illya, was a small building at the outskirts of the city's party mile.  
Currently, it was empty but for a young woman wiping the counter  
"We're closed" she called when they entered.  
Solo put on his most charming smile. "We're looking for our friend. He seems to have had a bit too much fun last night. Very tall Russian guy. He was with us here, but left around midnight"  
The woman eyeballed him. "Sure, I remember." She said. " When he left he was so drunk, had to lean on one of his friends to walk"  
Solo and Gaby exchanged a glance. "Which friend?“ Solo said.  
She hesitated.  
"Please" He smiled more brightly "We have to find him. We have to catch a flight today. Who knows when he gets a new flight? He might get in trouble.”  
She hesitated, but then she nodded. “He was unremarkable, just some twenty-something guy. Dark blond, rather tall, but smaller than your friend. He was with a date here. A beautiful blonde woman. She left with him and your friend.”  
"Did they say anything?“ Solo asked.  
"No. Well apart from.. your friend was constantly mumbling the woman’s name. Victoria or something."

"So, at least we now know what happened”, Gaby said as they left the club. She ignored the sick feeling in her stomach as good as possible. "Do you two still bug each other?"  
"Um... no.. Not anymore", Solo said. “Also, I doubt he would be in range now anyway”  
They reached a pay phone.   
“Wait here”, she said. She hurried into the cabin and dialed a number.   
"Waverly.“ a voice sounded from the speaker. They had to be careful. Victoria couldn’t bug every pay phone in the city, but they couldn’t act to suspicious.   
“We won't be able to catch our flight", she said. "Our friend didn't show up. He walked out of the club with Victoria, apparently she is surprisingly healthy and still in town. He didn't come back yet."  
Waverly was quiet for a moment. "Really?", he said then. "Any idea where they might be?"   
"No. Annoying, isn't it. Do you have any idea where they could be?"  
"There might be something.“ Waverly said. "There are a few caves at the cliffs. Smugglers built some sort of underground village to store their stuff. Victoria and her husband used it."  
She stopped herself from sighing in relief. Waverly gave her the coordinates of the cave entrances. "It is like an underground labyrinth”, said Waverly. “Difficult to navigate and easy to defend. And we don’t have any maps.” He sighed. “I’ll call for backup. You and Solo go to the caves and have a look.”  
She thanked him and hung up.  
"We might have a clue", she told Solo.  
Twenty minutes later they stood at the top of a high cliff. Under them the ocean thundered against rock. And hidden under a small group of trees were several holes in the ground.  
"So, how do we know if they’re here?“ Solo asked.  
"Let's look around”, she said.  
They circled the caves, always keeping the entrances in view, such that they would see anyone leaving or entering. The hills were empty, except for a car that was parked a few hundred meters away.   
Solo kept watch while Gaby broke into it. It was empty, not even a driving license laid around. That was suspicious, but didn’t help them.  
“Well, it still seems as if this place is our best shot”, Solo said, but he didn’t sound convinced.  
"We'll have to wait", Gaby said.

"Victoria", he said.  
Victoria stepped into his field of view, surrounded by half a dozen armed men. "Surprised?”, she asked.  
"A little”, Illya said dryly. “We thought you had died several months ago. What do you want?”.  
Her expression hardened. “It seems obvious, doesn’t it?”, she said. “Revenge.”  
“Tried this one before, didn’t you?”, he said.  
She made a gesture to one of her henchmen. He hit Illya square in the stomach; Ilya didn’t hesitate to hit him in the jaw. Another of Victoria’s man stepped forward. It was the same one who had argued with Illya the previous evening in the club. He aimed a gun at Illya’s head.  
"Sit down?", Victoria commanded.   
Seething with anger, he obeyed.   
Henchman number one hit again and again, while the second one kept his gun trained at Illya. He was angry and humiliated, but he couldn’t fight back now. There was no reason to assume Victoria’s men didn’t have orders to shoot him if he made any trouble. Finally, she ordered her man to stop. Illya gasped for air.  
“Do be quiet”, she said. “Of course, I will also take my revenge at your colleagues, Napoleon Solo and Gaby Teller, but everything in its own time.”  
She looked around her cave. “Sadly, you killed Rudi, and blew up most of my arsenal. I’ll have to improvise, which is why I brought you here first. You’re simple. Russians usually are.”  
Illya’s fists tightened. He felt the familiar surge of anger threatening to overwhelm him.   
“I can start with you and take my time thinking of worthy punishments for your comrades” She smiled dreamily.  
“Or maybe they just escape while you are taking your time.” He imitated her voice.   
“You think they’ll so easily abandon you?”, she asked. “On the other hand.” She glanced at him and smiled contemptuously. “Why not?” She shrugged. “However, I have all the time in the world to hunt them down. After all, thanks to you, there is nothing else left for me.”  
“Gosh, I’m so sorry”, he quipped. “So inconsiderate of us not to let you keep at least a small bomb”  
“You just don’t know when to keep quiet.”, she said. “Then again, I hear it is sort of a family trait.” She smiled again. “That’s why your father was arrested, wasn’t he.”  
“Stop talking about my parents”, Illya growled.  
She laughed. “Hit a nerve, haven’t I.”  
Whithout thinking, Illya jumped at her.  
Another gesture from Victoria, and the henchman shot.   
He felt a overwhelming pain in his right foot. He fell on the floor. Victoria’s men wrestled him down.  
“Now will you finally learn to stay calm?”, Victoria asked.  
Illya nodded, too angry for words.   
"Good. Though, to be safe..." She made a gesture to another man. He stepped forward, a thick rope in his hands, and started tying Illya up.   
She rolled her eyes. “Well, what I was saying, it seems a bad temper and pathetic lack of self-control runs in your family, since..”  
Illya moved again to jump at her, but the henchmen had finished tying him up. The rope cut deep into his flesh.

Solo hated waiting. Impatiently he stared at the entrance of the cave they guessed Illya’s kidnappers were in. He would like to just go in and find him, but of course if Victoria was really there she would have put up guards.  
They had been waiting for a few hours when a man left the cave. He made his way to the nearby car. Solo leapt to his feet. He walked towards the man, pulling Gaby with her.  
"Hello", he waved at the man. "We got lost. We're tourists, you know, and we were looking for the beach."  
The man looked annoyed, but when he saw Solo and Gaby, his eyes widened in recognition. He reached for the gun in his jacket, but Solo was faster. He hit him over the head, and then held his mouth closed to muffle his screams. He struggled to hold the man down and at the same time stopping him from speaking. It would be nice if he could just paralyze him with one hit like Illya did. "When you need Peril and his Kiss once", he mumbled  
"What?", Gaby asked  
He grinned, realizing what he had said. "Nothing, I'll tell you later. Could you please tie up our friend here?"  
When she had done so, he released the stranger’s mouth. "I don't suppose you want to tell us where our friend is?", he asked  
The man stayed quiet, glaring at them.  
He went through his pockets. A colt, a pack of cigarettes, and a map.   
"What do we have here?", he asked. It was, as they had hoped, a map of the cave system. The caves and tunnels stretched over several square miles. A few neighboring caves were circled, and the way to them was marked.  
He muffled the man, then he and Gaby lifted him about a quarter mile away and dropped him in a small group of trees.   
About halfway back they sat down and looked at the map.  
"There is a second entrance here" He pointed at a thin line on the map "An air duct, apparently. But it seems to be narrow"  
"I think I can pass through it", said Gaby

She carefully wriggled lower. The air duct went straight down but thanks to the narrowness she was never in danger of falling. She only had to stretch her arms and legs to find hold. The light from above became less and less as she lowered herself to the cave.   
At the bottom of the duct, she jumped the last few meters, and landed on a tough surface. She sneaked back through the cave until she reached the entrance. A guard with a machine gun stood there watching the entrance. She sneaked up to him, laid a rope around his neck and pulled. He struggled, gasping for air. She pulled harder and felt him becoming weaker. Just as he passed out, Solo entered and took the guard’s gun from where it had fallen on the floor. He gave it to Gaby and pulled out a flashlight. Soldiers Waverly had organized followed him into the cave.  
Solo and Gaby nodded at each other, then they made their way through the cave. It was completely dark except for the flashlight Solo had brought. He switched it off as often as possible, but he still needed it to navigate through the labyrinthine cave.   
After about ten minutes they were once again at a crossroads; Solo switched on the flashlight to see where they had to turn  
"Stop! Who's there?", called a voice is front of them. Gaby immediately shot. She hit, but now they knew they were here.  
This way", Solo called. He pulled her in the direction the guard had been in. They heard heavy footsteps from the same direction. Solo fastened his flashlight at his belt and pulled his own gun.

The man hit him again. He struggled to sit up with his bonds. He tasted blood in his mouth.   
"Come on, now", Victoria said. "Don’t tell me you’ve already had enough. My informants told me, you had endurance, at least. Like a carthorse.”  
He didn't waste any time answering. He would probably die here. His earlier fits of rage had left him with a strange numbness, familiar from the first few months after his father had been taken.   
The next blow let him fall on the floor. His head hit the floor and his view became black for a few moments, or maybe longer. He couldn't tell, nor did he know how long he had been beaten here. He didn’t feel much anymore, in a disconcerting way.  
But then suddenly it stopped. He heard gunshots.  
Many shots. “Go!”, Victoria shouted. “Get them!”  
His henchmen ran away through a tunnel. Victoria herself pointed his gun at Illya. “Are these your people?”, he asked.   
“How am I supposed to know?”, Illya said. “I was a bit tied up here”  
Victoria nervously ran a hand through her hair.   
Suddenly, the gun fire stopped . A familiar face appeared behind Victoria. Illya dived away as fast as he possible could.   
Victoria fell over, blood splattered from wounds in her chest.   
“Peril!”, cowboy shouted. He crouched next to him. “You okay?”  
“I have been better. Next time maybe work a bit faster, Cowboy”, he said.   
Solo smiled relieved. “We do what he can”, he said. Then he stood up.  
Illya got nervous. “Where are you going”, he said as casual as possible, but his voice betrayed him.  
“Just looking for Gaby”, Cowboy said. He stepped to the entrance of the tunnel. “Well, she seems to have everything under control.”  
“Fine, so are you planning to untie me at one point?”  
“Oh, yes, sorry”, Cowboy untied him. “You got quiet roughed up. We need Waverly to send a medic later.”

“She dead?”, Peril asked, pointing with his now untied hands to the woman who laid next to them.  
Solo felt for a pulse. Her skin was cold and still. “It seems like it.”, Solo said.   
Peril seemed so scared. Vulnerable. Maybe he should say something.  
Gaby entered the room. “Hey boys.” She glanced at Perils wounds “You okay?”  
“I’m fine”, Peril struggled to his feet. Solo offered him his shoulder to lean on, but he refused. Stubborn bastard.   
They made their way outside slowly, Peril limped and once even accepted his hand.   
Outside there were a dozen men waiting for them. Waverly talked to a few police officers of the local police.  
“Oh, here you are”, he said. “Kuryakin, we have a medic here”  
“I’m fine”, Peril said.   
“Better let the doctor decide that.”, He turned to Gaby and Solo ”Are you injured?”  
“No”, Solo said. Gaby shook her head.  
“Well, then, I’ll have to make some phone calls.” He left.

It surprised her that Illya even let the doctor take care of his wounds. He huffed frequently and mentioned several times that he was just fine. Finally, the doctor left, leaving the three of them on their own.   
Illya stared into space, evading to others’ gaze.  
Gaby wanted to say something, but Solo was faster.  
“Peril- Illya, listen.”   
Illya didn’t react.  
“Are you going to be okay?”  
No answer. They sat in silence for a while.  
“When I get angry, I sometimes loose part of my memory”, Illya said abruptly. “That’s what happened today. She – she provoked me, then I got angry and dind of lost control. My leg, for example”, he gesticulated to his injured foot. “I don’t remember how this happened. I got angry, and I guess attacked her? So I just suddenly had this pain in my foot and no memory of how it happened.”  
They stayed silent.  
“It’s scary.”, he continued. “The kidnapping, not knowing what would happen, and then forgetting most of it. It’s it’s just scary.”  
Impulsively she reached out and hugged him. He hesitated, but then he reciprocated.  
Solo patted their arms awkwardly.   
“It was kind of similar with me”, he said. “When Rudi electrocuted me. I mean, I do remember it, but it doesn’t seem real now, you know”  
They sat in silence for a bit longer, then Illya pulled out of Gaby’s hug. He coughed nervously.  
“So, ugh, nice work today. Gaby. Cowboy”,he said.  
“You’re welcome Peril. Now, let’s go back. I need a drink”, said Solo.


End file.
